Fabric used in the manufacture of balloons and dirigible airships



I Toall whom it may concern.

UNITED STATE-s1:PArENropp-1 5...

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Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb, 21, 1922. Application {111m September 15, 1919. Serial 1%. 323,966." A

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Be it known that I, ALEXANDER J oiiN'sroN,

a subject .of the King of the United Kingf b .sheet, and applied as a lining to the fabric dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and whose gost-oflice address is The NorthiBritish Ru ber 'Gompan Limited, Castle Mills,

Fountain Bridge, E inburgh, Scotland, have invented certain new and usefullmprove ments' in- Fabrics Used in the Manufacture which I have filed application in -Mar. 3, 1916, Patent No, 124,520v

of Balloons and Dirigible Airshi s, for

and of which the following is a specification.

Balloon and dirigible airship fabrics have hitherto been made of cotton,linen, or other textile material coated or impregnated with rubber, oil, or cellulose preparation the object of such coating being to prevent the permeation of the hydrogen or other gas, and the consequent loss of lifting power in the finished balloon or airship.

This invention has for its object a"; provide an improved medium for use in coating the cotton, linen, silk or other textile material in order to'minimize the loss of hydroen, and to provide a material less liable to eterioration from the action of light and more suitable generally for the purposes required in balloon and airship construction.

, The present invention. consists in the use of gelatine (preferably treated in any suitable or well known manner ,to render it insoluble in water) as a coating medium in place of, or in addition to, the hitherto known. materials such as rubber, oil cellulose preparation or the like.

' plied in any Under the present invention-the gelatine (preferably suitably prepared as before stated) may be appliedto the textile fabric by impregnating, spreading, calendering, or by any mechanical or other means, orapother method suitable to the ob%'ect in view. 2

11 like manner coats of the gelatine may be applied between different plies of the textile fabric, and on the exterior or interior, with the object notonly of reducing the permeation of hydrogen or other gas, but also of protecting the textile fabric from decomposition owing to the action of'light and. moisture, and of preventing the absorption of moisture from the atmosphere.

ngland i The proofing herein described may be apmay be used either pure or mixed or compounded with other substances or chemicals such as pigmenting agents; or with dyeing materials; and may or may not be treated as above described to water.

Alternatively the gelatine may be applied to' the fabric by any of the methods stated and the fabric afterwards passed through a bath of suitable solution to render the gelatine coating insoluble in water- The use of the gelatine as hereinbefore previouslydescribed has been found in ractical experiments to reduce the loss 0 hydrogen'gas to a negligible quantity, and to retard greatly the deterioration of the textile fabrics owing toflthe action of light and moisture. j

We are aware that, it has been heretofore proposed to coat India rubber fabric, paper or the like with gelatine which isrendered insoluble in water by one of the treatments known to the trade, and it has also been proposed to render pipes or receptacle impermeable to fluids by the use of gelatine treated in a like manner;

Claims- 1. A balloon envelope fabric comprising a plurality of textile layer of gelatine.

2. A balloon envelope fabric comprising a plurality of proofed textile plies and an. in-

termediate layer of gelatine.

3. A balloon envelope fabric comprising a plurality of textile plies and an intermediate layer of gelatine compounded with a pigmenting' agent.

4. A balloon envelope fabric comprising a pluralit of textile plies and an intermediate layer 0 insoluble gelatine.

5. A balloon envelope fabric comprising a render it insoluble in plies and an intermediate I p; I 1,,eome7 lui'alit of textile plies, m intermediate Beyer of geleeine compounded with a pig- 10 eyer o geletine and on exterior coating of menting agent end dyeing materials. geletine. The foregoin s cification signed at 6. A bellogn' envelope fabric comprising a, Keith; Edinburg ootla nd this thirteenth 5 pluralit of textile plies and an intemediete day of August, 1919. layer 0 gelatine compounded with dyeing ALEXANDER JOHNSTON. materials. In presence of two witnesses:

7. Abelloon envelope fabric comprising a JOHN P. NIVEN, plurality of textile plies and an intermediate DAVID 1P. TUHLY. 

